Marie Antoinette in a Park
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
ca. 1780-81
Before the guillotine fell, there was the pouf. In this lively sketch, Marie Antoinette stands in a park setting, sporting a hairstyle so tall it defies gravity, topped with a garden of flowers and feathers. Her dress is a masterpiece of Rococo excess, with layers of ruffles and a massive bustle that takes up half the page. Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, the queen's favorite painter, captured this moment of pure aristocratic glamour around 1780. It’s a beautiful, fleeting snapshot of a world that was about to disappear forever.
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